A rarely-seen watercolour of novelist Jane Austen has sold at auction for £164,500.

The James Andrews portrait is one of the most famous images of the writer and will appear on the new £10 note from 2017.

It was commissioned by Jane Austen’s nephew the Rev James Edward Austen-Leigh in 1869 to accompany the Memoir Of Jane Austen, his influential first full-length biography of the novelist. (PA)

Hairy swimmer

The first man to swim the length of Britain has shaved off the beard he grew to protect his face against jellyfish stings.

It took Sean Conway four and a half months to swim from Land’s End to John O’Groats, via Ireland. Along the way he was stung 10 times by jellyfish including three times on the face, which was why he grew his beard.

Mr Conway said he was unsure whether he was ready to lose it, but it was all part of his fundraising efforts. “The beard was such an important part of my adventure and it inadvertently became my image. I’m definitely going to grow it again,” he said. (PA)

Getting the point

A man in New Jersey awoke after a night’s sleep to discover a knife stuck in his back.

Police in Trenton said the 42-year-old did not know why his back was hurting when he got up and asked his brother to take a look. The brother found the knife protruding from the middle of his back.

Officers said he had been involved in a fistfight on his porch after a night of drinking and apparently did not realise he had been stabbed. (PA)

Christmas excess

More than 100 Father Christmases turned up for a masterclass at the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Michigan.

The Santas, as well as some Mrs Clauses, received instruction on make-up, wardrobe, sign language, reindeer care and communication during the three-day seminar.

The Howard bills itself as the longest continuously running Santa Claus school in the world. (PA)